Police seeking public help to solve fatal shooting

SMITHFIELD – Detectives in Smithfield have not identified a suspect in connection with the Dec. 19 murder of Jersey Park resident Travis Newby.

Newby, 36, was gunned down outside his Wrenn Road apartment overnight Wednesday and later died in Riverside Regional Medical Center. Newby, who was shot in the groin with a 9mm handgun, was Smithfield's first homicide victim of 2012, said Lt. Patrick Valdez.

Police did not recover the gun used in the crime or Newby's 40-caliber pistol, said Smithfield Police Chief Steve Bowman.

"We're still interviewing people and submitting evidence to the crime lab," said Bowman.

Police are still searching for a black man with short dreadlocks that witnesses saw fleeing on foot after the shooting, Bowman said. The suspect is described as slim, between 5 feet 7 inches and 5 feet 9 inches tall, wearing a black jacket and armed with a handgun.

"Someone, somewhere knows something …especially in such a densely-populated area," Bowman said. "At this point, we are asking anyone in the public who knows anything to come forward."